Not from a verisimilitude pov. Magic items should be found (in priority):
1) Royalty.
2) Temples.
3) Military.
4) Nobility.
5) Dungeons and caves, whatever.
Magic items are created by NPCs. Hence, NPCs should own them. Dungeons and caves should be the easiest place for adventurers to find them because royalty, temples, the military, and to a lesser extent nobility have really difficult defenses to get past (instead of 5 foes show up, 50 foes with magic show up) whereas monsters in caves and such are not as organized and do not collect in as large of groups.
But because magic items are hoarded by the first 4 groups, they should be harder to find in group #5. For example, Orcs should have some magical items in an entire orc kingdom because they raided some villages and towns in the past. But again, orc royalty, temples, the military, and nobility should have those items, not simple orc shamans of a dinky tribe (except items the shaman himself could make, or maybe one that got handed down through the tribe for centuries).
Items to me should be rare for PCs because they are rare in dungeons and caves, not because the items are necessarily rare in the real world. If PCs start raiding temples and manage it, then their magical haul should be better. Course, the repercussions of that...
